And it's money that was at the centre of his argument as Hollande delivered a virulent but lyrical accusation against the financial world.

"In this battle, I will tell you who my real enemy is: it doesn't have a name, a face, or a party, it will never be a candidate, it will therefore never be elected. This enemy is the finance world. Under your eyes, in 20 years, the finance took control of the economy, society and even our lives."

Judging the economic situation worse than a year ago, Hollande presented himself as the architect of a just recovery, which would spare the middle class and require an increased solidarity effort from the richest in French society.

Promising to undo the Sarkozy legacy, Hollande said that cancelling €29 billion of tax breaks for the richest tranche of the population and big business while cutting tax for small firms would allow him to balance the budget by 2017 and at the same time create 60,000 teaching jobs and 150,000 state-funded jobs for first-time workers as part of €20 billion euros in new spending.

His declared goal is to create an exemplary republic in which foreigners who have lived in France for five years will be able to vote in local elections and where homosexual couples will have the right to get married and adopt children. He also proposes to withdraw all French troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012.

"For a couple of days now, we are to ask ourselves if an election is necessary, as Mr Hollande seems so convinced that his is going to win", declared Jean-Francois Cope, secretary-general of the president's party.